Means for counterbalancing oven doors



E. P COLE.

MEANS FOR COUNTERBALANCING OVEN DOORS.

APPUCAUON FILED AUG-$1919.

Patented Jan. 31,

I Iwnferdfi? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD 1. COLE, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IIVILIEML'N'S FOR COUNTERBALANCING OVEN DOORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 31, 192 2.

7 Application filed AugustB, 1919. Serial No. 316,477.

To all whomit mag camera; I

Be it known that I, EDWARD P. COLE, a

.- citizen of the United States, residin at Chi- 7 7 ing is aspecification.

The object of my invention is to provide a counterbalance for the oven door of a stove, or other door hinged at its bottom'upon a horizontal axis, which shall be simple, strong,

"effective and suitable [for the purpose for which it is designed, and which through its novel and original combination and arrangement of cooperating parts shall constitute an improvement over any devices of a similar character known to me. With this purpose in view I have designed and invented the counterbalancing device hereinafter described and which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, the essential elements of my invention being more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

0f the drawing, Figure 1 is a perspective of a portionvof a stove showing the oven door to which the weight is applied partly open; Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the stove walls immediately to the left of the counterbalancing mechanism, showing such mechanism in elevation; and Fi 3 is a vertical section on the line 33 of ig. 2.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures of the drawing.

My invention in the specific embodiment shown in the drawing and now to be described is applied to a cooking stove 1 of or dinary construction, having an oven door 2 mounted upon trunnions 3 in the usual manner. One of these trunnions extends into the adjacent ash pit 4 of the stove, and to it, adjacent the side wall separating the ash pit and oven and within the ash pit opening, is secured a lever 5 extending rearwardly. The rear end of this lever is arranged to slidably engage and cooperate with the hollowed or channeled lower side of a lever 6, pivoted at its front end upon the casing at a point a short distance above the axis of the oven door hinge and slightly to the rear thereof. The rear end of this lever carries a weight 7 of such size that with the described leverage arrangement it will overbalance the door between closed position of the latter and an intermediate position about half-way open, the weight exerting its most effective leverage through such arc, while be tween such intermediate point and open position of the door the latter will exert its greatest leverage and overbalance vthe wei ht. The result of this arrangement and relatlon ship of the parts is that either in opening or closing the door it must be positively moved from its extreme position to and past the neutral point, and towards the end of its move-H ment it will be assisted by the'weight carried bythe lover or the weight ofthe door, as the case may be, and when it comes to rest the door will be yieldingly maintained in open or closed position. The sliding engagement betweenthe end of thelever 5 and the lever 6 is purposely made of such character as to provide a certain amount of frictional resistance which acts to cause a somewhat sluggish movement of the door and prevents a free acceleration of movement under the influence of the weight of the door, as the latter is closed or opened, which would result in slamming it to one or theother extreme position. Since the preponderance of weight on either side of the balancing point is small, the frictional resistance need not be great, and the door can be moved easily and will stop in open or closed position with'a relatively slight shock or ar.

' The lever 6 is formed with a shallow notch which engages the end of the lever 5 when the door is slightly ajar, say about oneeighth open. The notch is of such dimension, with respect to weight and porportions of the parts of the device, that when engaged as described, the weight 7 will not be able to move the door from a position of rest, but may be moved to cause disengagement by application of a slight degree of positive force to the door, and underthe influence of'momentum in a closing movement of the door the end of the lever 5 will slide past the notch without coming to rest in engaged position,

I claim:

1. In an oven or the like having a door hinged on a horizontal axis at its bottom, a lever rigidly secured to the door and extending rearwardly therefrom adjacent its hinge point, a second lever hinged adjacent intermediate the axis of the latter and said weight.

2. In an oven or the like havinga door hinged on a horizontal axis at its bottom, a lever rigidly secured to the door and extending rearwardly therefrom adjacent its hinge point, a second lever hinged adjacent the axis of the door and also extending rearwardly and equipped with a weight at its rear end, the rear end of said first mentioned lever 'sli'dably engaging said second lever intermediatelthe axis of the latter and said weight, the weightsof said door and weight being so proportioned that they will counterbalance each other when the door is partly op'e'n and they will tend to close the door between such point and closed portion and tend to open such door between such point and fully opened position.

3. In an oven or the like having a door hinged on horizontal trunnions at its hottofni, a lever rigidly secured to and projectingrearwardly from a trunnion, a second 1ever hinged a'dj acent and above said trunnion and also extending rearwardly and equipped with a weight at its rear end, the rear end of said first mentioned lever s lidably engaging said second lever intermediate the axis of the latter and said weight. kl, Inan oven orthe like having a door hinged on a horizontal axis at its: bottom, a lever rigidlysecured to the door and extend ing rearwardly therefrom adjacent its hinge point, a. second lever hinged adjacent the axis of the door andalso extending rearwardly and equipped with a weight at its rear end, the rear end of said first mentioned lever slidably and fri'ctionallfy engaging said second lever intermediate the axis of the latter and said weight; I j

5. In an oven or the like having a door hinged on a horizontal axisat its bottom, a lever rigidly secured to the door and extend ing rearwardly therefrolri adjacent it's hinge point, a second, lever hinged adjacent the axis of the door and also extending i ear- Wardly and equipped with a Weightat its rear end, the rear end of said first mentioned lever slidably engaging said second lever intermediate 'the axis of the latter and said weight and the engaging face of such second lever being fornied With a shallow stop surface near its outer end.

EDWARD r. Conn. 

